NORTHBROOK, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 7, 2005--Residents of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, rank as the safest drivers in the U.S. according to the Allstate Insurance Company's (NYSE:ALL) inaugural "America's Best Drivers Report."

The first-of-its kind ranking of U.S. cities with populations 100,000-plus, revealed that the average driver in the central Iowa city will experience an auto collision every 15 years, compared to the national likelihood of a crash every 10 years - making them 33.28 percent less likely to have an accident than the national average.

Allstate researchers analyzed internal data to determine the likelihood drivers in America's largest 196 cities would experience an auto collision compared to the national average.

"As one of the country's largest insurers, Allstate is uniquely positioned to present this significant report," said Daryll Fletcher, Vice President in charge of data and research at Allstate. "This wealth of data enables Allstate to salute America's best drivers and recognize their safe driving skills, which make all of our communities safer places to live, work and raise families."

Cedar Rapids city officials were not shocked that the city ranked high on the list.

"With the majority of crashes occurring within five miles of the home, it's reassuring that our residents are the safest," said Paul Pate, Cedar Rapids' mayor. "The quality of our community's driver education programs combined with the consideration of our Traffic Engineering department goes a long way to make our roadways safe for everyone. We thought we'd make the list, but we never realized we'd be No. 1 in the country."

The Top 10

Drivers across Iowa, Tennessee and Colorado shine as the nation's safest, as two cities from each state rank among the top 10 with the safest drivers, according to the report.

"What makes this report from Allstate valuable is that it is based on real world collision data from actual drivers," said Allan Williams, the recently retired chief scientist and researcher at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "Also, Allstate's auto policies represent about 12 percent of the U.S. population, making this report a realistic snapshot of what's happening on America's roadways."

Additional "Road" Scholars

Drivers in U.S. cities with populations of one million-plus are more likely than the national average to experience a collision. Phoenix, the top-ranked city in this category, mirrors the national collision average of one accident every 10 years.

"Many factors contribute to how cities rank in the report," said Williams. "Some factors - demographic makeup, commuting patterns and city design - cannot be changed; others, like smart traffic engineering and strong law enforcement initiatives, can help to prevent crashes in metropolitan areas."

Cedar Rapids is taking a serious and proactive approach to roadway improvements and law enforcement, city safety commissioner and police officer Dave Zahn said.

"Our traffic engineers work hand-in-hand with the community members to minimize traffic congestion and collision frequency," Zahn said. "For example, we recently expanded a 15 block strip of Mt. Vernon Road, one of our busier streets, from four lanes to five. Since its completion, collisions are down 66 percent on that stretch of road."

Zahn also pointed to Cedar Rapid's courteous driving style as a reason for the city's top ranking. He outlined lessons that all drivers could learn from Cedar Rapids residents.

-- Signs mean something - Traffic signs are here to help us. "Yield, stop and school zone speed limits are meant to be followed, not ignored," Zahn said.

-- Respect sirens - "Pull over to the side of the road when you see emergency vehicles," Zahn said. "I always tell people 'You never know. You may be the one in the back of that ambulance some day.'"

-- Speeding gets you nowhere fast - "Exceeding the speed limit won't get you to your destination any faster," Zahn said. "The few minutes you save you'll lose sitting at the next red light anyway."

-- Courtesy matters on the road, too - "Treat those you share the road with the same as you would your friends, family and co-workers," commented Zahn.

The Math Behind the Rankings

To create the report, Allstate researchers analyzed internal property damage claims over a two-year period (from January, 2002 to December, 2003) to ensure the findings would not be impacted by external influences such as weather or road construction. A weighted average of the two-year numbers determined the annual percentages. The report defines an auto crash as any collision resulting in property damage.

Crashes Happen

In all, Allstate policyholders in the largest 196 U.S. cities were involved in more than 2.2 million crashes over the 24-month period measured in the report. Nationwide, U.S. drivers experienced more than 8.7 million collisions during the same two-year period, statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revealed.

According to insurance.com, more crashes occur on Saturdays than any other day of the week. Friday ranked second and Thursday came in third. Collisions are least likely to occur on Sundays. Collisions are most likely to happen between 3 and 6 p.m. From 6 and 9 p.m. ranked second and 9 p.m. - midnight finished third. The fewest crashes occur between midnight and 3 a.m.

For the complete listing of all U.S. cities with 100,000-plus residents ranked in the Allstate report, log onto www.allstate.com.

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE:ALL) is the nation's largest publicly held personal lines insurer. Widely known through the "You're In Good Hands With Allstate(R)" slogan, Allstate helps individuals in approximately 17 million households protect what they have today and better prepare for tomorrow through approximately 13,600 exclusive agencies and financial professionals in the U.S. and Canada. Customers can access Allstate products and services such as auto insurance and homeowners insurance through Allstate agencies, or in select states at allstate.com and 1-800 Allstate(R). Encompass(SM) and Deerbrook(R) Insurance brand property and casualty products are sold exclusively through independent agents. Allstate Financial Group provides life and supplemental accident and health insurance, annuity, banking and retirement products designed for individual, institutional and worksite customers that are distributed through Allstate agencies, independent agencies, financial institutions and broker-dealers.

Note: The Allstate data excludes cities in the state of Massachusetts, where Allstate Insurance Company does not offer insurance products.

I've often heard we in Cedar Rapids have the lowest auto insurance premiums of any city (over 100K pop.) in the nation.

The gas giveaway was 3 blocks from my home this morning. Un(?)fortunately, I had filled up all our cars just this past weekend. Cars were lined up, two-abreast snaking through the parking lot. (Police had set up barricades to keep the lines in the lot and mostly off the street.) Radio and TV were covering it (including a helicopter for aerial views). Once in line, it was reportedly taking around 45 minutes to get to the pumps.

People are so polite here, the motorist said. "At a 'stop' sign, it's 'You go.'

No, why don't you go?'"

I hate when that happens. It slows everything down. During our rush hour (half an hour each AM & PM), the lines at the 4-way stop signs are many blocks long because of it.

Yeah, I almost got arrested in Huntsville last winter. Not a good place to take Massachusetts driving habits. From anecdotal evidence of other Bay-Staters, I attribute Huntsville's relative safety to better traffic enforcement.

I live in the DC metro area (N.VA) the drivers in this area are terrible. I am cut off many times in just one day. Last nite on the way home from work, I had a green arrow for a left turn, the driver coming the other way turned right and almost hit me! I blew my horn to warn him of the impending collision, I slammed on my brakes. The driver ignored me, I did flash my brights at him as he pulled in front of me. He watched me turn into the grocery store parking lot and approached me at my car and wanted to argue and start something with me.

When he saw that I was a rather large man in height and weight, he backed off. His remarks were cut off by me, but he said he did not care who had the right of way!

26
posted on 06/07/2005 10:24:45 AM PDT
by Mr. D
(Here is the announcement of the (fraud) forum)

HandiMart Phillips 66, 588 Boyson Road NE (just W of C Avenue). It started around 5:20 AM. All the radio and TV stations were covering it. Newscopter 9 was hovering over the gas station from about 5:45 until sometime after I left for work at 7. The aerial views were pretty amazing. They had the cars winding through the adjacent parking lots like a queue in an amusement park (or, think Best Buy on the day after Thanksgiving).

The copter was loud enough at our house 3 blocks away that I'm real glad we don't live in the neighborhood next to the gas station.

If more people understood how they work best -- really, they should be called a 2-way -- they'd be okay.

I assume that you're referring to the fact that when 4 cars approach one from all points of the compass, N will wait for W who'll wait for S who'll wait for E, when N+S and E+W should just alternate.

Problem is, the number of jackasses who never use their turn signals ever. If you are headed N, one of these jokers headed S will inevitably assume that it's his turn, will gleefully turn left without signalling, wreck your front end and then blame you because it was "his turn."

What you describe is a typical Atlanta driving move. Others are the left hand turn from the right hand lane across several lanes of traffic, and vice versa, and of course the old pull out from behind someone going 60 MPH in the merge lane to get ahead and cut them off because they aren't moving fast enough for you in the merge lane.

Average speed limit on Atlanta highways: 80+ MPH

Average speed limit on Atlanta surface streets: 60 MPH, and the Lord help you if you are so rude as to drive the posted speed limit or even a little above it and slow anybody down. You WILL be tailgated all the way down the surface road if there is no way for Mr. Speedy to pass you.

This data is close to useless because it is not normalized into the number accidents per mile driven. Instead, it is provided as the number of years between accidents. The problem is that those who live near big cities typically have much longer commutes and therefore will put on more miles per year - which increases their exposure and absolute probability of having an accident. The traffic density is also higher - which also increases the probability of accidents. In order to have a truly meaningful comparison, one must measure the number of accidents over an equivalent period of exposure (i.e., per mile driven).

Last nite on the way home from work, I had a green arrow for a left turn, the driver coming the other way turned right and almost hit me!

Considering you had the arrow and he was turning right on red, he clearly should have yielded the right of way. But, if instead you both had the green light, and you each had a separate lane to turn into, if each of you had stayed in your own lane, it'd be no problem. But, I'm often amazed at how the right-turners in that situation seem to think they have the right to turn across both lanes.

Nashville, 23??????????? No way, I had two vehicles totaled in two years. One the other driver ran a red light, "T-boned" me and then backed up and took off. The second my car was parked and a woman got out of her car with the engine running and a kid in the car, the kid put the car in reverse and it hit my car.

This data is close to useless because it is not normalized into the number accidents per mile driven.

To the extent that accident insurance rates take into account where you live and drive, the data are quite useful for the purpose of setting those rates. For that purpose, there is no need to normalize for miles driven.

That's true - it is useful from an insurance perspective. However, people incorrectly view these results as somehow being indicative of the skill and quality of drivers in various cities (see above posts).

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